 My Basket
()

Making sour cherry chutney- can I can like I would jam?

Hi, I want to make a batch of sour cherry chutney for the first time. I've canned lots of jam and preserves using the water bath method. Do/Can I process chutney in the same way if I want to give some as gifts? Thank you!!

There's no way to tell from what you've said whether there's sufficient acid in the recipe to make it safe for water-bath canning. Most chutneys have low-acid ingredients like peppers and onions in them, which can bring the pH up to above safe levels. Botulism is a very real danger, and you should not water-bath can untested recipes.

It depends on the jam. Most fruits, like berries and stone fruit, are sufficiently high in acid, and so long as you don't add low-acid things to alter the pH, they're fine. Some fruits, like figs, are not, and need to be acidified to be brought up to safe levels. Tested recipes such as those put out by the USDA and Ball have had their acid levels tested professionally to ensure a pH of 4.6 or higher, which will kill botulin spores. Otherwise they can reproduce in anoxic conditions, which is when they produce the toxin that causes botulism.

I'm 100% with Hedonia on this one. But take heart, as there must be plenty of sour cherry jam chutney recipes out there. (Actually, I'd have no hesitation substituting sour cherries for regular cherries in a recipe for a chutney using the latter, as all cherries have similar pH levels, with sour cherries being more acidic.) Once you find a cherry chutney recipe you like, you can tinger with the spices to your heart's content. ;o)

I very much appreciate all this advice, food52ers. I read the UGA canning guide cover to cover and found a great rhubarb chutney recipe that I added the sour cherries to. It's divine! Do y'all try to eat your canned goods within a year's time?